By Kathy Brown.
Pick your own daffodils in ten different varieties are almost ready in Higganum at Halfinger Farms. Eight thousand of them. The Halfingers purchased the dormant 12-acre Winmar farm at 15 Jacoby Road, Higganum three years ago, and renamed it “Halfinger Farms on Winmar.” They have put in a lot of work to clear the fields and renew the Winmar property. It was named after the previous owners Winifred and Marjorie, and was originally established in 1790.
“Picking will be excellent for the next three weeks and we need pickers,” said Jen Halfinger. “We are setting private picking times for maximum enjoyment and safety.”
John and Jennifer started Halfinger Farms back in the mid-’80s and have been growing and changing ever since. From strawberry fields to pumpkins to greenhouses plants and flowers. They are known far and wide for their hanging baskets in the spring, and their mums in the fall.
Dancing Daffodils will be the first Pick Your Own daffodil farm in Connecticut. John and their son, Alden, planted 8000 bulbs in October in a one-and-a-half acre field on Winmar. “We focused on March and April blooming varieties,” said Jen. “We planted 10 varieties of daffodils including scented, doubles in yellow and in mixed, white with orange trumpets, yellow with orange trumpets, mixed trumpets, mixed split trumpets (butterfly), and classic yellow trumpets. We plant bulbs at a high density; rows 2 feet by 175 feet hold about 1,700 bulbs.”
The picking will change due to COVID-19 but the Halfingers are flexible; they have to be as farmers in fickle New England. Instead of a field full of people, the Halfingers will be setting private picking times. Imagine the joy in dancing in the daffodils with no one to see!
There will be pre-picked bunches for sale by pre-order, as well as PYO. “We sell by the stem at .50 each,” explained Jen. “Pickers leave feeling renewed and happy. That’s what daffodils do!”
And of course, it won’t stop there. “We are planning our expansions for the next two years,” said Jen. “We are working with daffodil experts from Cornell University and the Netherlands to pick the best varieties for growing and cutting in Connecticut.”
Please call 860-659-7292 for your appointment to dance through the daffodils.
Photos courtesy of the Halfingers.
